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cetoria's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyable. If you've ever been a teenager and/or suspected reality TV was not such a great thing. My only complaint is the ending felt rushed. Plenty of social commentary and snarky jokes.
goose_png's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
it did take me two tries to get through this book. the first time through i hated it so bad and could not get through it, but the second time it was like something clicked and it is really one of my favorite books. I adore the characters and how they develop so, so, so much. Hard SF definitely isn't for everyone, and the between-chapter infodumps are definitely A Choice but I didn't mind them.
eowyns_helmet's review against another edition
3.0
I started out really liking this -- the voices of the teens were authentic and funny and the premise intriguing. Essentially, how can I get maximum fame, the only thing these kids really care about. On the way, they lose some friends -- who indulge in happy stuff, a meth-like substance that eventually turns them into vegetables then kills them -- but then find new human connections on their troubled quest for notoriety. I especially liked Barnes' infodumps, which provided excellent and fascinating real facts about the science he is writing about. I'm enough of a geek to really like this. Unfortunately, about half way through, I lost interest -- the characters just didn't hold me.
fancybone's review against another edition
4.0
The idea of a bunch of teenagers teaching themselves how to fly a spaceship isn't too plausible, but a good story none-the-less, and I loved the ending
karak's review against another edition
2.0
The author tried too hard to put too many genres into the same book- YA/Hard Sci-Fi/Dystopian Future/murder mystery- and none of the stories were really compelling. The "Real Science" breaks in the action were just distracting.
alizirrah's review against another edition
3.0
Most times when I start off hating all the characters in a book, this does not change much...in the case of Losers in Space, their unlikability was intentional and the characters grew and matured to a believable degree. Most fascinatingly, the main/POV character remained kind of a sociopath, but with ultimately "good" intentions. She shocked and horrified me, but I couldn't hate her.
I don't read a lot of hard sci fi, mainly because too much math and physics hurts my brain. The tech and science in this book was interesting, though. One of my quibbles with LIS, though, is the "Notes" sections thrown into the middle of the narrative. There is a disclaimer that you can skip them if you want to, but to understand what was going on I kind of needed to read them, and they threw me out of the story. The author claims that in-narrative explanations would be more disruptive, but I disagree. I would say interrupting the flow of the story with fairly unskippabke author's notes (not even footnotes) is an amateurish move, but uh, this is the author's 30th book..??
Other complaints include:
* If this is hard sci fi, and thus meant to be scientifacally plausible, how do we have things like intelligent, talking pink elephants in about 100 years? Some of the space travel and medical advancements seem unlikely given the time frame, as well.
* The slang is another thing that threw me out of the story and annoyed me a fair amount. It seemed like everyone used "ultra" and *only* "ultra" as a way of saying very, really, extremely, etc. The overuse of "zoomed" reminded me of the slang in the Disney movie "Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century." (Come to think of it...it reminded me of Zenon in a lot of ways. Just a sociopath version.)
And what the HELL is "sheeyeffinit" supposed to be?! That one makes me irrationally angry, actually, as an English/linguistics nerd. I stumbled over it and ultimately ignored it for half tbe book, until one of the characters emphasized a few of the syllables and I could sort of figure out how it was meant to be pronounced. My best guess is it is meant to be some kind of word smash, with "effin'" inside of "shit", but pronounced more like "shee-it." Shee- effin' -it. But still..just..what? Most swear words are one to two syllables for a reason. Easier to spit out, more satisfying. Hardly any are 3 syllables or more, especially ones meant to express displeasure ("Shit!" "Fuck!" "Damn!" ...see?) I just don't buy it.
Those complaints aside, I did become invested in the characters and their plight, and it was interesting/entertaining enough, so Losers in Space gets a solid 3 stars.
I don't read a lot of hard sci fi, mainly because too much math and physics hurts my brain. The tech and science in this book was interesting, though. One of my quibbles with LIS, though, is the "Notes" sections thrown into the middle of the narrative. There is a disclaimer that you can skip them if you want to, but to understand what was going on I kind of needed to read them, and they threw me out of the story. The author claims that in-narrative explanations would be more disruptive, but I disagree. I would say interrupting the flow of the story with fairly unskippabke author's notes (not even footnotes) is an amateurish move, but uh, this is the author's 30th book..??
Other complaints include:
* If this is hard sci fi, and thus meant to be scientifacally plausible, how do we have things like intelligent, talking pink elephants in about 100 years? Some of the space travel and medical advancements seem unlikely given the time frame, as well.
* The slang is another thing that threw me out of the story and annoyed me a fair amount. It seemed like everyone used "ultra" and *only* "ultra" as a way of saying very, really, extremely, etc. The overuse of "zoomed" reminded me of the slang in the Disney movie "Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century." (Come to think of it...it reminded me of Zenon in a lot of ways. Just a sociopath version.)
And what the HELL is "sheeyeffinit" supposed to be?! That one makes me irrationally angry, actually, as an English/linguistics nerd. I stumbled over it and ultimately ignored it for half tbe book, until one of the characters emphasized a few of the syllables and I could sort of figure out how it was meant to be pronounced. My best guess is it is meant to be some kind of word smash, with "effin'" inside of "shit", but pronounced more like "shee-it." Shee- effin' -it. But still..just..what? Most swear words are one to two syllables for a reason. Easier to spit out, more satisfying. Hardly any are 3 syllables or more, especially ones meant to express displeasure ("Shit!" "Fuck!" "Damn!" ...see?) I just don't buy it.
Those complaints aside, I did become invested in the characters and their plight, and it was interesting/entertaining enough, so Losers in Space gets a solid 3 stars.
mmichellemoore's review against another edition
4.0
Overall a good read. I love a diverse cast in sci-fi and most of the kids voices felt authentic. That said, the notes for the interested format were distracting and instead of feeling like in-depth explanations, they felt like distractions and as though the author were so excited to include more backstory that he could not edit. In future editions maybe the notes for the interested can be in the back or a more pictorial form
beththebookdragon's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to like this book--it strives to bring the appeal and wonder of hard science fiction to today's teen readers. But it seems just a little too forced and crafted--the slang, the slacker teens who don't use the good minds most of them have--and the narrator has some good points and good sense but is way too self-centered at the outset to be appealing, in my opinion. Teens may think differently though.
That being said, the future world is well planned out, the science rings true and is well explained in the "notes" that are separate callouts rather than being an "information dump" in part of the stories (that part works fairly well), and the characters are ethnically mixed in a way appropriate for a future world.
I wasn't inspired to finish the book myself, but I'd love to know what actual teens think of it!
That being said, the future world is well planned out, the science rings true and is well explained in the "notes" that are separate callouts rather than being an "information dump" in part of the stories (that part works fairly well), and the characters are ethnically mixed in a way appropriate for a future world.
I wasn't inspired to finish the book myself, but I'd love to know what actual teens think of it!
cheermio's review against another edition
4.0
second read, still completely love it just like first time. I didn't actually read all the notes for the interested this time (the super scientific explanation bits) which ARE good but I already knew them this time and I liked just reading the story parts. it's about a bunch of teenagers in the future who want to be famous so they stow away on a ship to Mars thinking it'll make a good story and they'll be in the news but then a lot of bad things happen and they are trying to survive and it's great. space! bunch of not really losers!
and a lot of the snide commentary on societal values where celebrities are overvalued was interesting. especially with the terrifying step further that sociopaths and criminals will become celebrated celebrities in the future because they're good TV is scary.
and a lot of the snide commentary on societal values where celebrities are overvalued was interesting. especially with the terrifying step further that sociopaths and criminals will become celebrated celebrities in the future because they're good TV is scary.